Finance Transformation Gone Wrong - Unrealistic Project Timelines

Note: This post is part of a series on the challenges of transformation and how to overcome them.

Unrealistic Project Timelines

It's been said that when it comes to project management, you'll want it to be cheap, fast and right.  Unfortunately, you only get to choose two of those dimensions.  It's an unfortunate reality of life that timelines are often chosen for political considerations rather than basing the time frame on the objectives of the engagement, the defined scope and the number and quality of the resources assigned to the project. 

Project timelines should be built from the bottom up, with a detailed analysis of all the tasks that need to be completed, the key interdependencies between phases and tasks and the number of hours estimated to complete each task.  Extra time needs to be added for project management, vacation, and non-project related training.  Additionally, if something comes up during the project that pushes out the critical path, it's imperative that the project be reset, either through extending the timeline or by adding additional resources if that's feasible.

One of the fastest ways for a transformation project to go bad is to improperly prepare for the actual initiative.  Too many times a project is launched and no one wants to "waste time" with all that preparation stuff.  The reality is that preparation is key to a successful project.  And that includes everything from clarifying the objectives in the Project Charter to figuring out where people are going to sit and how they'll gain access to the virtual project team room.

Another challenge I see with tight project timelines is that key resources are often scheduled for multiple tasks that run concurrently.  This should be eliminated as part of the resource leveling exercise, but often these conflicts are dismissed with a "it'll all work out" mentality.  Project timelines are notoriously unrealistic when they double book resources and don't consider activities such as meeting and vacations.

Through proper preparation and realistic consideration of key activities, dependencies and resources, the project team can substantially reduce risk to the project by establishing a realistic project schedule.